The immigration debate
The history of immigration in the United
States
 The history of the present King of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all
having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let
Facts be submitted to a candid world.
 …He has endeavoured to prevent the population of
these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass
others to encourage their migrations hither, and
raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
Early years
 6,000 a year (numbers are uncertain)
 French refugees (slave revolt in Haiti)
 After 1820 federal records were kept
 Irish (famine of 1845-1849)
 .5 million Germans
 1850 first census to ask for “place of birth”
 90% of population was native born
Timeline of US immigration laws
 1776 - Unrestricted
 1795 - Naturalization Act - Citizenship limited to "free white
persons" residing in the US who renounce allegiance to former
country
 1798 - Alien & Sedition Acts - President is given the right to
expel "aliens" deemed dangerous to country (only lasted a few
years)
 1850s - Emergence of "Know Nothing Party" seeking to "purify"
the nation by restricting immigration and altering citizenship
requirements (lasted less than 10 years)
 1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act - Fear of competition from
Chinese workers led to prevention of any further Chinese
entering the US
 1885 - Contract Labor Laws - Prohibited contracts for cheap
foreign labor
 1892 - Ellis Island, NY set up to regulate immigration
 1917 - Immigration Act of 1917 - Further restrictions on
immigration, expanding the classes of foreigners excluded from
US. It imposed a literacy test and designated an Asiatic Barred
Zone.
 1921 - Congress establishes first quota system for immigrants
 1924 - National Origins Act reduced quotas of immigrants
deemed "less desirable", such as Russian (Jews) and Italians
(Catholics)
 1942 - Bracero program
 1948 - Displaced Persons Act
 1952 - Immigration and Nationality Act - Consolidation of
immigration laws and abolished Asian Barred Zone.
 1953 - Refugee Relief Act
 1954 - Operation Wetback
 1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act - national origin quotas
abolished, annual limit imposed on visas for immigrants
 1980 - Refugge Act increased overall refugee quotas
 1986 - Immigration Reform and Control Act granted lawful
permanent residency to over 2.7 million undocumented
immigrants
 1990 - Immigration Act established categories of employment
and placed cap of number of non-immigrant workers
 1992 - Chinese Student Protection
 1996 - Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act - imposted strict penalties against illegal immigration and
expanded definition of deportable offenses
Selected text taken from www.ailf.org
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
 1848
 Concluded the Mexican War
 Citizenship for residents
 60,000 New Mexico
 4,000 California
The 20th. Century
 Mexican Revolution (1911-1929) drove close
to 1 million refugess across a porous border.
 Some returned during the Great Depression.
The Evian Conference
 July 1938
 Failed to pass resolution protecting Jews in
Germany.
resistance
 “In the past 50 years, polling data have charted a
deepening opposition to immigration, linked in
part, it appears, to economic concerns.”
National Academy of Science study: Smith, James P. & Barry
Emondston, eds., “The New Americans: Economic,
Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration” (1997)
Countries with the largest number of immigrants
in the US
Country Population in 2004
Total foreign born 34,860,000
Mexico 8,544,600
China 1,594,600
Phillipines 1,413,200
India 1,244,200
Cuba 1,011,200
Vietnam 997,800
El Salvador 899,00
Dominican Republic 791,600
We are a nation of immigrants
because…
 56 million people
 20% of the population is either a first
generation immigrant or has one or both
immigrant parents.
Schmidley, Dianne, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population
Reports, Series P23-206, “Profile of the Foreign-Born Population
in the United States: 2000”, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C., 2001.
Some definitions
 Citizen : sworn loyalty to a nation
 Naturalization: process by which citizenship is
conferred
 period of continuous residence and physical presence in the
United States;
 residence in a particular USCIS District prior to filing;
 an ability to read, write, and speak English;
 a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and
government;
 good moral character;
 attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution; and,
 favorable disposition toward the United States.
…Some definitions
 Resident : intending to stay
 Undocumented : lacking permission
 Illegal : prohibited by law or accepted rules
 Guest worker : foreign labor hired on temporary or
permanent basis (Federal Guestworker Program)
 Economic migrant: guest worker, foreign worker
 Resident alien: foreign national living and working in
the United States
 Refugee : seeking asylum to escape persecution
…Some definitions
 Documents : official papers that prove the existence
of relationships and facts
 “Green cards”: Lawful Permanent Residency
 Visa : allows the bearer to apply for entry, does not
grant the right to enter the US (BCBP)
 Citizenship : membership in a political community
 Border : geographic boundaries of political entities.
WASHINGTON October 1, 2006. (Washington Post) -- The Senate gave
final approval last night to legislation authorizing the construction of 700
miles of double-layered fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border, shelving
President Bush's vision of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration
laws in favor of a vast barrier.
Alien
 Any person not a citizen or national of the
United States (USCIS)
 National: a person owing permanent
allegiance to a state
strange
unknown
dissimilar opposed
inconsistent incongrous
adverse not native
Creature
from outsider
outer space outlander
It all depends on your point of
view
 Emigrate
 Immigrate
 migrate
Something to think about
 What is the best way to describe the
immigration history of the US?
 What is the current image of the immigrant?
Why?
 In terms of “ups” and “downs” where are we
in the historic cycles of immigration?
U.S. Population
Native and Foreign-born
300,000,000
250,000,000
200,000,000
150,000,000
100,000,000
50,000,000
0
1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Foreign Born Population as Percentage of Total Population
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
U.S.
SOUTH
8.0
S. Atlantic
N.C.
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Foreign-born Population as a Percentage of Total Population
from Decennial Census and post-2000 ACS estimates
16
14
12
U.S.
10
SOUTH
8
S. Atlantic
6 N.C.
4
2
0
1850 1880 1910 1940 1970 2000
Estimated Foreign-born Population as Percentage of Estimated Total Poplulation
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08 U.S.
South
South Atlantic
0.06 N.C.
0.04
0.02
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

October 1, 2006
 Congress okays 700 mile border fence with
Mexico
WASHINGTON October 1, 2006. (Washington Post) -
- The Senate gave final approval last night to
legislation authorizing the construction of 700 miles of
double-layered fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border,
shelving President Bush's vision of a comprehensive
overhaul of U.S. immigration laws in favor of a vast
barrier.
Resources on line
 http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/
 Latino studies program at Indiana Univerisity
 http://www.cis.org/ (Center for Immigration Studies)
 “Pro-immigrant low-immigration think tank”
 http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/immigration/about/lisa.htm
(L.I.S.A. Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaption
Study at NYU)
 http://www.ccis-
ucsd.org/PUBLICATIONS/working_papers.htm
 (working papers of Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at
University of California at San Diego)
 http://hapi.ucla.edu (Hispanic American
Periodicals Index)
 Database of Latin American journal articles